"Research Findings: Big Math for Little Kids" ("BMLK") is a mathematics curriculum designed for 4- and 5-year-old children. In this study, the curriculum was evaluated for effectiveness over two years, using a cluster-randomized controlled study. Over 750 children participated in the study and experienced either the…

Research Findings: Recent research has validated the power of evidence-based preschool interventions to improve teaching quality and promote child school readiness when implemented in the context of research trials. However, very rarely are follow-up assessments conducted with teachers in order to evaluate the maintenance of improved teaching…

Since the last part of the 20th century, early years provision has seen a steady increase with more governments developing policies and allocating funds for the out-of-home care and education of young children. The expansion of early childhood provision and the economic investment made for such provision has gradually led to the introduction of…

Finland recently adopted two national core curricula that apply to kindergartens (ages one through six). An early childhood education and care curriculum outlines expectations for children under seven (when school starts), while a preschool curriculum establishes guidelines specifically for six-year-olds. Both curricula describe broad principles,…

This article describes collaboration between preschool and university educators focused on adapting the Center for Research on Education, Diversity, and Excellence (CREDE) standards for Effective Pedagogy for use in early childhood (EC) settings. The CREDE standards are strategies of best practices for culturally diverse K-12 students. Teachers…

"Understanding the Danish Forest School Approach" is a much needed source of information for those wishing to extend and consolidate their understanding of the Forest School Approach in Denmark and how it is used in the teaching and learning of young children. It will enable the reader to analyse the essential elements of this Approach…

This article addresses the impact of intensive, job-embedded mentor-coaching for 36 teachers and teaching assistants in relation to their language and literacy proficiency and the fidelity of their implementation of the Opening the World of Learning curriculum. The literacy scores for the majority of teachers in both the treatment and comparison…

Background: Historically, the meaning of teacher competence has changed and is continuously being re-constructed along with changes in society as well as with shifting values and intentions in preschool guidelines and curricula. Over the past decade, Swedish preschool has been incorporated as a part of the educational system, and has received its…

This article explored the conflict handling modes of 63 student teachers and 36 clinical instructors participating in a preK-12 semester of student teaching. Initial results of the Thomas-Kilmann Conflict Mode Instrument indicated that both student teachers and their clinical supervisors used "Accommodating" as their preferred mode and "Avoiding"…

This study uses data collected in the intervention classrooms (N = 22) of Head Start REDI (Research-based, Developmentally Informed), a randomized clinical trial testing the efficacy of a comprehensive preschool curriculum targeting children's social-emotional competence, language, and emergent literacy skills delivered by teachers who received…

Effective early language and literacy instruction to remediate language deficits and to prevent problems in learning to read is an important area for intervention research. Children with early language deficits who are growing up in poverty are dually at risk. Early deficits in language development predict both continued delays in language…

This article gives an account of the results from an assessment of an early childhood education programme, conducted over the course of two academic years (1999-2000 and 2000-2001), in a centre in northeastern Spain. The purpose of the assessment was to discover how a particular educational programme contributed to the short-term competency levels…

Bright Beginnings is an early childhood curriculum, based in part on High/Scope[R] and Creative Curriculum[R], with an additional emphasis on literacy skills. The curriculum consists of nine thematic units designed to enhance children's cognitive, social, emotional, and physical development, and each unit includes concept maps, literacy lessons,…

Current preschool learning guidelines, created in response to NCLB requirements, focus on three areas of human development in an effort to ensure that preschoolers are ready for kindergarten. This study examined four New England states' preschool learning guidelines, looking at how each detailed its support for preschoolers' development. The…

Thirty years or more of striving for a coherent theme in the educational system from preschool to gymnasium might now be at an end. Millions of Swedish kronor have been spent on projects concerning cooperation between pre- and primary school. The curricula for preschool and the gymnasium are similar in structure, and they are connected with each…